JANUARY 20, 2003

Renault's juniors

Renault confirmed at its launch in Luzern, Switzerland, that it has signed Allan McNish and Franck Montagny as its two test drivers for 2003 but also gave details of new signings in its Driver Development programme. Last year there were five drivers in the programme but this year only four have been retained: Fabio Carbone, Heikki Kovalainen, Eric Salignon and Carlo Van Damm.

In December there was a new selection and three more youngsters have been signed: Argentina's Jose Maria Lopez (19), Spain's Adrian Valles (16) and Britain's Danny Watts (23).